Cartoon Heroes Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Bonzo Dog Band

The song in question is 'Mickey's Son & Daughter', a cover of an old music hall song, which appears on the band's debut album 'Gorilla'. It also mentions Pluto having a party; in the original version, he gives Mickey a gorgonzola cheese, but the Bonzos changed 'gorgonzola' to 'golden dollar'.

The Bonzos, also known as the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, started out as a trad jazz ensemble and bought old novelty records from flea markets, with a special fondness for those with silly names. 'Mickey's Son & Daughter' was one of said records, and was one of many records that cashed in on the popularity of the ubiquitous rodent.

Answer: Boys for Pele

'Not the Red Baron' is a track from Amos' third album, 'Boys for Pele'. The 'radio chatter' at the beginning of the song, meant to evoke pilots talking, is a conversation between Amos and the studio engineers, and was recorded in one take. The song was actually inspired by Amos' road crew having relationship problems, which Amos compared to a plane crash, and imagined them being carried away by siren-like figures with red ribbons. (Fans of 'Peanuts' will know that Snoopy often fantasises about fighting the Red Baron, with his kennel as his 'plane'.)

Incidentally, Amos played this song as one of the encores, along with the B-side 'Never Seen Blue', at the first gig of hers I went to at Manchester Apollo in 2005.

Answer: The Flintstones

The B-52s, of 'Rock Lobster' fame, appeared in the live-action version of 'The Flintstones', starring John Goodman as Fred Flintstone and Rick Moranis as Barney Rubble. The film itself received mixed reviews but, in my opinion, the B-52s' version of the theme tune was one of the good things about it.

The band sampled the original theme at the beginning of the song and recorded it as the 'BC-52s', complete with animal print outfits on the cover. They also cameoed in the film playing 'The Bedrock Twitch', which had originally featured in the second season of the original series.

Answer: True

Yes, Paul McCartney did write a song about Professor X's archnemesis - it's 'Magneto and Titanium Man', a track on Wings' fourth album, 'Venus and Mars', featuring McCartney doing an incredibly dodgy American accent. The narrator's lover is involved in a robbery and Magneto, Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo all go into town together and see her there.

It also appeared as a B-side on the medley 'Venus and Mars/Rock Show'. Stan Lee, who created the characters in question, was a fan of the song and when Wings performed the song on their 1975-1976 tour, they used art of the characters by Lee, Jack Kirby and John Heck as a backdrop.

Answer: Squidward Tentacles

Dirty rap is a subgenre of rap with raunchy lyrics. One such rapper is Cupcakke, and her music is a bit blue for this website, but it's not many rappers who do songs about 'Spongebob' characters! 'Squidward Nose', the song in question, is a diss track that was released as a standalone single in 2019. Squidward himself has a cameo in the video, where Cupcakke is dressed up as a mermaid. (In 'Spongebob Squarepants', Squidward plays the clarinet.)

Answer: Desiigner

The song itself is spelled 'Tiimmy Turner', as a nod to Desiigner spelling his name with two i's, and the character in the song being a metaphor for Desiigner himself. Desiigner, previously known as D for Designer, got the idea for the song from 'The Fairly OddParents': "I was describing myself and putting myself as a character, Tiimmy Turner - you know 'The Fairly OddParents', he's got the godparents, he makes wishes and all that." One theory is that the song is about what Timmy's life would have been like if he had grown up as a Black kid wishing for a gun.

A remix featuring Kanye West was released in September 2016.

Answer: Devo

One of Akron, Ohio's most famous exports since rubber, Devo were a new wave band featuring two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (singer and keyboardist Mark and lead guitarist Bob) and the Casales (singer and bassist Gerald and rhythm guitarist Bob, who died in 2014), plus drummer Alan Myers, who died in 2013.

They were recognisable by their wacky outfits, the most memorable of which featured pyramidal red plastic hats. 'Go Monkey Go' features on 'The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains' and Mojo Jojo stars in the video, with cameos from Devo.

Other artists on the album include Shonen Knife, Frank Black and Bis.

Answer: Sailor Moon

The annoyingly catchy 'One Week' was everywhere in the late '90s and is jam-packed with cultural references, from country singer Leann Rimes and Harrison Ford to Bert Kaempfert, Sting and Akira Kurosawa. The lyric in question is 'gonna get in tune with 'Sailor Moon' cause that cartoon has got the boom, anime babes that make me think the wrong thing'. Other fictional characters mentioned in the song include Aquaman and the Smoking Man from 'The X-Files'.

('Puella Magi Madoka Magica' didn't come out until the '10s, so it definitely wouldn't have featured in 'One Week'!)

Answer: The Arctic Monkeys

OK, 'Street Fighter II' is a video game, BUT it's had various cartoons and anime based on it, so it counts! Chun-Li was the first female character in the 'Street Fighter' fighting game series and the Arctic Monkeys immortalised her in song with 'Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick' (incorrectly titled 'Chun Li Flying Bird Kick' on Spotify).

The song was nominated for Best Instrumental Rock Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards. The Arctic Monkeys aren't the only musicians to have done a song about Chun-Li - Nicki Minaj also has a song named after her.

Answer: Huckleberry Hound

Cartoons feature heavily in Space's work; singer Tommy Scott has cited Speedy Gonzales as one of his influences and even tried to sing like him on Space's earlier records. 'Charlie M' is a track from their debut album 'Spiders' and is named after Charles Manson.

The line in question is 'over the hill comes Huckleberry Hound/Looking full of rabies, now he's heading into town'. The song also features a line about Mickey Mouse seeing a psychiatrist to cure his hang-ups about his sex life with Minnie.